My Road to Certification – The diary of my studies to become an Apple Certified Support Professional
Posted by Justin in Training, tags: ACSP, Apple, Apple Certification, Apple Certified Support Professional, justin byrne, maccraic, Pat Dengler, Peachpit, Snow Leopard, TrainingIn the Beginning
When a number of our listeners suggested that Dave and I be certified I don’t quite think that the following was quite what they had in mind.
Since becoming a Mac owner (and subsequent fanboy) I have toyed with the idea of doing the exams to become Apple Certified, not just for the prestige of the Cert itself, but also to learn more about the best computing platform I have ever used. It is one of those ideas that resided on my “someday/maybe” list. When I was informed in June that I was being made redundant due to the current economic crisis I moved this idea to my current projects list replacing the work related projects that I would now no longer be responsible for finishing.
After careful consideration I decided what better way to assist my studies and keep me focused on my learning than to use the MacCraic website to blog about it. I hope the blog will serve as my revision aid and also be of assistance to others who decide to follow along the same path.
So here begins the diary of my road to certification.
Finding Out What the Requirements Are
My first port of call was Apples website where I searched for what was required to become certified. There are a number of various routes that you can take form Pro Apps to IT Support. I decided to start with the Apple Certified Support Professional course (Nicknamed Snow Leopard 101). A full list of available Apple training and certification can be found at http://training.apple.com/#certification.
Method of study
You can choose to attend an Apple Authorized Training Centre or study at your own pace using one of the Apple Authorized Training Books published by Peachpit (http://www.peachpit.com).
As there are no AATC’s convenient to me, coupled with time and family constraints, I opted to go the route of getting the book and learning at my own pace. A quick search of Amazon and I had found and ordered the book. Thanks to Pat Dengler (http://www.yourmacdoctor.com) for telling me about the book. If you are in the LA area and need help with your Mac be sure to check out Pat.
Exams
Once I feel I have acquired enough knowledge I will apply for and sit the Snow Leopard 101 exam. When I previously looked it appeared that there was not a place to sit the exam in Ireland however that seems to have changed and I will be looking into this at a later stage and will advise in a later post.
Keep your eyes and ears open for more of this as I hope this series of articles will be of assistance to others who choose to go the same route as me or just of general interest to Mac and MacCraic fans.
I look forward to having you as companions on my journey.
Thanks for reading.
That’s all the Craic till next time.
Justin
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